How Authoritarian Value Systems Undermine Global AI Governance

Digital authoritarianism is often considered an issue limited to a few illiberal regimes, but neo-liberal AI technologies can be equally pervasive. In this policy brief, Sabhanaz Rashid Diya argues it is crucial to treat authoritarianism as a values complex that permeates both autocratic and liberal societies.

Diya says policy solutions to mitigate the erosion of democratic norms and public trust should focus on international mechanisms central to AI governance that introduce procedural safeguards to ensure transparency and accountability through equitable multi-stakeholder processes. Further, they should encourage regulatory diversity tailored to sociopolitical contexts and aligned with international human rights principles.

China’s once-galloping economy has slowed, and cracks in its governance model are emerging. And, “as China faces an array of internal problems, state censorship has been ratcheted into overdrive,” Kyle Hiebert writes. “Wary of espionage, Beijing is taking ever more extreme measures to restrict information flows.”

In this commentary, a version of which first appeared in SpaceNews, Hiebert takes a look at how Beijing’s suppression of information has gotten progressively worse since the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing the ways in which “this matters not just for China’s 1.4 billion citizens, but also for the rest of us.”

Faced with a threat landscape unprecedented in Olympic history, the French are, unsurprisingly, “turning to technology to augment security, including through the use of artificial intelligence, facial recognition software and electric signal jammers (to target drones flying over Olympic venues — reportedly up to six per day).”

In this op-ed first published by National Post, Stephanie Carvin says “a true Olympic feat will be for democratic host countries to find ways to balance the need for a secure event with the rights and privacy of all participants and spectators, well after the torch has passed on.”

“It touches your life. It touches your safety. It touches your security. It touches your family comfort. It touches your career. It touches your future. You don’t get sleep and you don’t know what kind of bad news you are receiving when you wake up tomorrow morning.”

In its initial report, released in May 2024, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions established that foreign interference did not affect the outcomes of Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021. But as this quote from one of the inquiry’s witnesses illustrates, states can go to great lengths to influence opinions and silence others. In this commentary, Marie Lamensch discusses the problem of transnational repression and how it has impacted members of diaspora communities in Canada who dare to criticize their country of origin.

Sep. 9 – 10:00 a.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): Plan now to join us for the launch of Robert Gorwa’s new book, The Politics of Platform Regulation: How Governments Shape Online Content Moderation, which examines the emerging domestic and international politics of online safety.

This virtual event will begin with a presentation on the book and key findings, followed by a Q&A session with attendees. CIGI Research Directors Tracey Forrest and S. Yash Kalash will facilitate.

Learn more and register here.